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Bangladesh: Violence against civilians in Dhaka
Bangladesh: Academics Allegedly Targeted for Supporting Hasina Click to expand Image The University of Dhaka in Bangladesh, July 1, 2021. © 2021 Sony Ramany/NurPhoto via AP Photo (London) – Scores of academics and students at public universities in Bangladesh have been arbitrarily punished because of their alleged affiliation with former ruler Sheikh Hasina and her Awami League party, Human Rights Watch said today.Any action to punish persons for their peaceful beliefs or without ensuring due process would violate the rights to freedom of expression and association protected under international human rights law and reproduce abusive attempts under previous administrations to control political opinion and expression at Bangladesh’s public universities.“Bangladesh has a long history of political debate in its universities, and only autocrats should fear such discourse, not a government formed following student protests,” said Meenakshi Ganguly, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Bangladesh needs to turn the page on the repression of the past, not repeat it whenever the ruling and opposition parties trade places.”The sanctions—dismissals, suspension, and teaching restrictions—focus on allegations that they were complicit in violence by Hasina’s Awami League government, which was toppled by student-led protests in 2024, allegations of other “subversive” activities in support of her party, or their alleged discrimination against students wearing Islamic clothing. Hundreds of students, allegedly Awami League members and supporters, are also being expelled, denying them their education rights.Human Rights Watch interviewed over a dozen affected teachers, examined university correspondence, and reviewed and analyzed a televised discussion and a video posted on social media. Interviews with teachers and students also confirmed expulsions, cancellation of exam certificates, or barring students from campus.According to media reports in August 2026, at least 404 more academics at 22 universities, who were part of a pro-Awami League Telegram messaging app group, have been put under investigation. “What is happening now is that the university authorities are targeting with false allegations the group of teachers who are aligned to the Awami League and did not support the 2024 student movement,” said a professor at a public university, who is not identified for security reasons. “We are not allowed to go take classes, we cannot do research work, we cannot do anything.”Hundreds of people were killed in a brutal police crackdown on the protests in July and August 2024, which forced Hasina to flee and paved the way for the return of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party to power following an election in February 2026. The activities of the Awami League were criminalized by an interim government in May 2025.For years, Bangladesh’s universities have been run in a partisan manner, employing and promoting academics close to the party in government and acting against supporters of other political parties.Starting in September 2024, the newly appointed authorities at Dhaka University, the country’s most prestigious university, ordered 44 academics to stop their work and restricted teaching assignments of another 25, without a transparent or credible disciplinary investigation. Subsequently, six of the academics were formally “temporarily suspended” following the findings of an inquiry committee, and similar investigations have now begun against another 14 teachers.At Bangladesh Agricultural University in Mymensingh, the authorities dismissed, suspended, or removed 12 academics and demoted or restricted the activities of another 34 after setting up an “investigation commission,” though this did not appear to comply with the university’s legally established disciplinary process. And in Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University in Dhaka, 12 academics have been temporarily suspended and another 10 removed from academic activities following an inquiry process that teachers said they were not allowed to attend, an apparent breach of the law covering academic discipline. Another 85 teachers were denied promotions.In all, over 20 public universities have been affected, Human Rights Watch found.In March 2025, Dhaka University temporarily suspended 126 students, and withheld their exam certificates, after a fact-finding committee said it had found photographic, video, or social media evidence that they had attacked peaceful protesters. Cases filed with the police allege that another 277 Awami League students were involved. The university authorities have taken no formal action against them, but students and teachers confirmed that they stay away from campus for fear of arrest. Many of those named deny any role in the violence, yet the university has not provided a forum for them to answer the allegations.Among the academics affected is Professor Mashiur Rahman, from the Dhaka University sociology department, who since 2017 was deputed as a vice-chancellor at another university. He was told to stop all academic and administrative work on September 25, 2024. The allegations against him include claims that during the protests he “directly opposed the movement, calling it illegal, baseless and irrational,” during a July 2024 television discussion, although a video of the broadcast, reviewed by Human Rights Watch, shows no such comment.Another allegation is that at the prime minister’s house on August 3, 2024, he “incited genocide.” However, this was a meeting set up by the University Grants Commission that all vice-chancellors had to attend, and he has told Human Rights Watch that no evidence has been provided to him showing that he made such a statement, which he denies. On August 31, 2026, the university authorities recommended permanently suspending him, which he is appealing.The allegations against the sanctioned teachers at the Bangladesh Agriculture University center on their participation in a pro-Awami League march on August 4, 2024, the day before Hasina fled the country. A report by a Commission of Inquiry set up by the university refers to the march as a “terrorist” procession.A video posted on Facebook by the Bangladesh Agricultural University Journalists’ Association on August 4, 2024, and analyzed by Human Rights Watch, shows a scene from the march. In the video, a group can be seen walking on the campus chanting slogans. No direct confrontations are visible. Professor Purba Islam from the Department of Pharmacology was suspended on August 4, 2025, for her “sloganizing” at the procession, alleging “support for the oppression, persecution and genocide committed by the fascist and autocrat Sheikh Hasina.” No evidence of her shouting slogans is visible in the video.Professor Yahia Khandoker, from the university’s Department of Animal Breeding and Genetics, was also suspended on August 4, 2025, accused of maintaining “on the university campus, a clear position in favor of Sheikh Hasina’s mass killing.” Throughout the whole protest period, he said, he was with his family in Dhaka, not at the university. The High Court has stayed his suspension, though the Attorney General’s Office is appealing.Three academics, two of them in prison, were convicted by the country’s International Crimes Tribunal on crimes against humanity charges, with another awaiting trial.“Any acts of revenge against people who peacefully supported the previous government would show that freedoms of speech and assembly are not protected,” Ganguly said. “Universities should be places where people are free to express their views, not places where support is enforced for the government of the day.”
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